Hi all, first time poster here.

I'll be in Germany in October, and I'd like to do a bit of mountaineering with a friend.

We both have a bit of experience with mountains around PD and high altitude. Me - Huayna Potosí and Kazbek; him - Pisco, Ishinca, Urus. So we'd like to try to push the technical difficulty a bit (more vertical), but take out the high-altitude and multi-day aspect. Something where we can hike to a hut and make a summit attempt from there.

I have no idea what snow conditions are like in October though (avalanche risk)? Is there a way to keep track? We'd like to climb in snow, but I have no idea what it's like climbing in super fresh snow (only climbed in summer on high altitude snow).

We'll be around Stuttgart, so the closer the better, to save time and money, but we're quite flexible if it's worth it.. Any suggestions? Are there some standard mountains that are well known as intermediate mountains to improve skills? Or mountains better suited to autumn climbing?

I asked on another forum and so far some options I've discovered are Jubiläumsgrat, Wildspitz, Watzmann, Großglockner...

Even in the summer season, there can be fresh snow on the high peaks in the Alps, and though rather uncommon, there can be avalanche risk. Overall, avalanches are still not all that common in October, but statistics won't help you much - it takes just one avalanche to kill you. That means you'll have to be flexible, make a plan but be ready to change it when the weather or route conditions are unfavorable.

The summer season in the Alps has just about come to an end by now, and most huts will be closed or closing soon. Few are open in October. It's not that the weather isn't good anymore October for alpine trips, but because there are much less people around, it's just not economically feasible to keep them open.

Since you're going to be in Stuttgart, a couple of areas to look into would be Wetterstein, Karwendel, Ötztal and Stubaital.

If it's glacier travel you're interested in, then, if conditions are ok, I recommend the Höllental route to the Zugspitze. The Höllentalangerhütte stays open until mid october. The day before setting off, I suggest that you check the actual route conditions (and, obviously, the weather forecast. You need good weather, and preferably not too much snow - if there is more than a little fresh snow, well, then it gets a lot more dangerous, both because you can't see the crevasses on the glacier anymore and because the via ferrata will be a whole lot harder; the cable may even be hidden beneath the snow. By the way, if you don't have a via ferrata set, you can simply stay roped up and use the steel cables to clip in. It's an easy alpine rock climb then, with protection already in place.

Looking back down on the Höllental Glacier

The Karwendel is just east of the Wetterstein range, but has no glaciers. Lots of hiking opportunities, including day trips. Some years ago, I ploughed through deep fresh snow early September, and I wasn't even far above 2000 m! Still, when there is too much snow high up, the Karwendel has lots of opportunities a bit lower down.

A view of the Karwendel mountains from the valley

A little further south are the Stubai and Ötztal ranges. If conditions are good, you can take your pick of a wealth of mountains and routes, though almost all refuges will be closed so you'll have to look at winter rooms or bivvy huts. If conditions are less favorable, you can still explore the somewhat lower northern parts of these areas. This summer I had a good time in the Sellrainer Alps, which at the northern end of the Stubai range. There are still a few glaciers there, but there is much less ice than all the maps show. I''ve got nice memories of traversing the Hoher Seeblaskogel via the Grüne Tatzenferner, starting at the Westfalenhaus. From the map, I couldn't tell if the Grüne Tatzenferner would be safe to cross unroped, but I asked around locally and learned that there were no dangerous crevasses anymore. I packed crampons, but though most of the glacier had no snow on it, I didn't need them because the sun had thawed the surface sufficiently to give my boots just enough grip.

Wow, thank you for all of that! I'm going to look into all of those, and maybe just keep a few options open and decide as the conditions become clearer.

If the huts are closed that will definitely restrict our options a lot, but hopefully we can make do with some winter rooms.

Anyways, I've got lots more reading to do now, thanks for the pointers!

Conditions in october can vary in the alps! At present in the northern Alps we have no snow up to 7200 ft, snow then slightly increases northward. The snow keeps melting this week.

In october winter onset with e.g. 10 inches (or much more) can generally happen any week in the alps, escpecially above 6000 ft.

If there is enough snow and wind, avalanches happen.

Avalanche status report sites exist e.g. for Bavaria: http://www.lawinenwarndienst-bayern.de and Tirol: http://lawine.tirol.gov.at. But also for every part of Europe: http://www.avalanches.org.

During summer they are normally not maintained. But heavy winter onsets are e.g. in Tirol mentioned in a blog http://lawinenwarndienst.blogspot.co.at/

Weather measuring stations (snow heights) Tirol: https://lawine.tirol.gv.at/schnee-lawin ... stationen/
Webcams Austria: http://www.bergfex.at/sommer/oesterreich/webcams/

A nice worldwide punctual weather forecast ist http://meteoblue.ch. There exists an archive of forecasts for each place, that, to some degree, can tell about the punctual recent weather development.

Großglockner and Wildspitze are most likely the most famous mountains of Austria, and also the highest ones ! Almost the same goes for Zugspitze and Watzman in Germany.

Considering the conditions I think all of them can be possible, and also practically impossible. Today conditions should be quite good, and might stay like that the next week. I have been to Großglockner and Wildspitze in October with best conditions! Also there is much less people than during high season, when the expirience can only be most terrible there.

They are also beautiful mountains both, but escpecially the Glockner.

Großglockner has with "Stüdlgrat" III+ a nice route http://www.bergsteigen.com/klettern/tir ... grat#topos But also the normal route is beautiful. The normal route has metal poles which aid belaying a lot. Ice difficulty on the normal route is around 40°. Normal route is maybe a simple combined tour for an experienced climber/alpinist, and Stüdlgrat intermediate. For Intermediates Stüdlgrat is perhaps even to difficult, and the normal route not easy.

I would also consider Tirol/Ötztal, maybe Vent and go to Martin-Busch-Hütte (but safe avalanche conditions are a must to reach the hut), there you have options for the easy but quite high mountains Kreuzspitze (very simple) and Similaun (with glacier, not many crevasses, on the route usually almost none). Fineilspitze ist another option, with climbing up to II UIAA, and some exposure, but PD.

Rock is brittle in the Ötztal! And also in many of the northern Alps. But that is not so much the problem at the often visited peaks. If you leave the main routes, it can becom very evident.

Wildspitze can also be visited from Vent (Breslauer Hütte). But I think there is a fairly high danger of crevasses possible. Escpecially for two. Last spring a lot of people fell into crevasses there.

Generally we've had a hot summer! Crecasses should be open. Where the snow starts in high places there should be some risk on glaciers. With fresh snow and maybe some wind the risks should be very high generally.

Climbing with fresh snow slows you down very much. And I sometimes regret, that I didn't bring a big brush. Finding belaying points becomes a problem.

There is a multitude of options, and I am convinced, that you can go to almost any area of the Alps to start some hiking/climbing - in case the weather stays stable. Of course Swiss is also an option.

Good luck and happy chosing!